Teams & Riders Derek Gee is the new G

[Red Rick]

You have no proof of that assertion, anymore than I do mine, but I tend to look for the good in people. It if was even a part of of his decistion, it was more brave than anyone else from that team.

He's their best rider, ofcourse he could get the biggest deal by jumping ship.


And I don't say he's morally wrong for wanting to leave. I'd want to leave too, but I think it's a pretty neutral thing. My main disagreement is that it's framed as some act of bravery when 1. he only starts breaking contract when social media overwhelmingly agrees with the point he would be breaking it over and 2. To my knowledge he's not really put out any strong statement on the matter in question.

The first point is whatever, it's not cowardice, but I don't think following a trend makes one particularly brave, and the second point is closer to an act of cowardice than bravery to me.

He may be a great guy. But this saga basically says nothing to me whether he is or isn't, and frankly I don't blame someone for just wanting to get out of the team and ride his bike.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

He's their best rider, ofcourse he could get the biggest deal by jumping ship.


And I don't say he's morally wrong for wanting to leave. I'd want to leave too, but I think it's a pretty neutral thing. My main disagreement is that it's framed as some act of bravery when 1. he only starts breaking contract when social media overwhelmingly agrees with the point he would be breaking it over and 2. To my knowledge he's not really put out any strong statement on the matter in question.

The first point is whatever, it's not cowardice, but I don't think following a trend makes one particularly brave, and the second point is closer to an act of cowardice than bravery to me.

He may be a great guy. But this saga basically says nothing to me whether he is or isn't, and frankly I don't blame someone for just wanting to get out of the team and ride his bike.

Fair enough

 

[saunaking]

We can choose to believe him or not, but top sportsmen have the leverage to force their way out of a contract.
The $30M lawsuit was always a gross negotiating threat.

But whether sporting reasons, moral or money, he pushed his way out of IPT as is his perrogative. Yes there is some minimal blowback as we see some are not happy with his behaviour.
But lets get over it, Onley, Ayuso, Underpants, Van Aert, Remco..... the list is only gonna get longer

 

[Tim Cahill]

"Certain issues"

Nice to see Derek adhering to forum rules at least.

'I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it.'

Daniel Benson has deleted his tweet about his move to Ineos being considered 'a done deal', some kind of client journalism going on here I think, who it is in aid of not yet clear, looks like a David move tbh.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2011462043732451552

The plot thickens.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Seen a couple of interviews reporting his programme for the first part of 2026. Benson has also reported this but given what's been posted above, who knows if it's actually true.

-Algarve (supporting ajuso)
-Catalunya
-Tour of the Alpes
-Giro d'italia

A steady build up to the giro.

 

[Netserk]

Seen a couple of interviews reporting his programme for the first part of 2026. Benson has also reported this but given what's been posted above, who knows if it's actually true.

-Algarve (supporting ajuso)
-Catalunya
-Tour of the Alpes
-Giro d'italia

A steady build up to the giro.

i had hoped that the transfer would see him copy the build-up of the favourites and skip tota. hopefully he can get the prep right and perform at his best from start to end in the giro

 

[Ilmaestro99]

i had hoped that the transfer would see him copy the build-up of the favourites and skip tota. hopefully he can get the prep right and perform at his best from start to end in the giro

Maybe because of his slow start in tota and giro last year they want to keep him racing regularly, particularly with his superior physiology in terms of recovery. G Thomas did a similar programme in the last few years. Let's see.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Maybe because of his slow start in tota and giro last year they want to keep him racing regularly, particularly with his superior physiology in terms of recovery. G Thomas did a similar programme in the last few years. Let's see.

Ciccone also did ToTA last year, as well as LBL afterwards, and was still ahead of both Gee and Carapaz when he crashed. It is of course entirely possible he would have lost a lot time in the last week, but then that would likely just have been due to him being Ciccone rather than a result of his schedule.

 

[jono]

Per Daniel Benson paid from Lidl to NSN for Derek Gee-West was €1.2M while Ineos paid €6M to Picnic for Oscar Onley.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2011730678853849093

View: https://x.com/lucasaganronald/status/2011730678853849093

 

[Red Rick]

Football style transfer system fails to comprehend the basic reality of cycling versus football. It also reduces riders' wages

 

[Netserk]

ban riders who break their contract. then teams can freely negotiate a fair price

 

[jono]

Football style transfer system fails to comprehend the basic reality of cycling versus football. It also reduces riders' wages

Please explain.

 

[AmRacer]

Please explain.

If there's limited amount of money, and some goes to the team instead of the rider.

 

[jono]

If there's limited amount of money, and some goes to the team instead of the rider.

For the individual rider, getting out of their contract early is getting them paid more. Otherwise they wouldn't seek it out or agree to it, in most cases.

As for money paid to riders, in total, if Ineos sends 6M to Picnic for Onley, that could 6M less that they spend on rider salaries, but that is also 6M more that Picnic can spend on salaries (or, more likely, use to keep existing and keep their entire team of riders employed). I don't see how total spend across the peloton on rider salaries decreases.

 

[AmRacer]

For the individual rider, getting out of their contract early is getting them paid more. Otherwise they wouldn't seek it out or agree to it, in most cases.

As for money paid to riders, in total, if Ineos sends 6M to Picnic for Onley, that could 6M less that they spend on rider salaries, but that is also 6M more that Picnic can spend on salaries (or, more likely, use to keep existing and keep their entire team of riders employed). I don't see how total spend across the peloton on rider salaries decreases.

Picnic doesn't need to pay Onleys salary, so there's another savings

 

[xo 1]

If there's limited amount of money, and some goes to the team instead of the rider.

Perhaps, although one may hope that the transfering team would spend the transfer fee on rider salaries. And, as with Lidl, I anticipate that the transfer fee seems not to have been funded from a rider salary budget. I can only speculate what Gee would be paid without the transfer fee, but his Lidl wage seems at market to me.

Who knows what INEOS's rider salary budget is? With all the roster turnover and (to me) bloated wages for several riders on the downward slope of their careers, the team pays a lot for its results. Would it pay more without incurring Onley's transfer fee? Again, speculating only, but I would have been surprised to see a late-transfer-season splash. Any rider still on the market was likely to be a lower-wage addition.

 

[repre]

To change cycling transfer system they need to change the cycling economy first. You cannot pay for every rider if you don't have money, and you cannot have money if ASO takes all the TV and sponsor's money themselves.

Also current economy system is very fragile and dependable on main sponsors for teams to exist. Sponsor is gone and team can dissapear in a moment like Arkea.

So to pay money for riders teams have to know they will have stable finances and future for 3-4-5 years at least.

This is the reason that currently only big teams can afford transfers. And cycling needs more stable financial environment at the middle and bottom levels.

ASO is an anchor of cycling right now as it blocks all the changes.